Angela Pitt is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Airdrie.[1] She was elected under the banner of the Wildrose Party, which then merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the United Conservative Party (UCP) in July 2017.[2] She serves as the UCP Deputy House Leader.[3] On June 20, 2018, Angela Pitt won the UCP nomination for the riding of Airdrie-East with 71% of the vote, contested by sports broadcaster Roger Millions.[4] April 16, 2019, Pitt was re-elected in the 2019 Alberta general election, representing the Airdrie-East riding under the United Conservative Party.[5]

Angela Pitt
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Assumed office
May 5, 2015
Preceded byRob Anderson
ConstituencyAirdrie (2015-19)
Airdrie-East (2019-present)
Personal details
Born1984 or 1985 (age 39–40)[1]
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Political partyUnited Conservative
Other political
affiliations
Wildrose (2015–17)
Residence(s)Airdrie, Alberta
Occupationbusiness owner

Angela Pitt supported Danielle Smith when she was running for leadership of the UCP.[6]

Pitt has been part of various committees including the Special Standing Committee on Members’ Services, Standing Committee on Legislative Offices as well as Standing Committee on Families and Communities among others.[7]

Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees

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On May 21, 2019, Pitt was chosen by her peers to serve as Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees in the 30th Alberta Legislature, an office she currently holds.[8] She was re-elected to this role for the 31st Alberta Legislature on June 20, 2023.

Personal life

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Angela Pitt has two children. She holds a business administration diploma with a major in marketing from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).[9] Pitt was a small business owner and managed a special events company before her life in politics. She eventually sold her business to focus primarily on her political career.[10]

Political career

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Pitt has advocated that the Airdrie area have better transportation infrastructure as she’s described how “We see [an] overpass at Balzac is becoming a growing concern. Of course, the completion of the 40th Avenue interchange will alleviate so many pressures for the people of Airdrie and the surrounding area in the coming future”.[11]

Pitt had been a vocal critic of the United Conservative Party government response to COVID-19, joining 16 other members of the legislature in a letter denouncing COVID-19 restrictions in April 2021,[12] and joined the "End the Lockdowns" national caucus of elected officials.[13] In a video conference for the "Free Alberta Strategy" on September 28, 2021, Pitt stated she had "no confidence" in Premier Jason Kenney, the statement came from growing dissatisfaction with the provincial government's response to COVID-19.[14] Kenney ultimately stepped down as Premier after 51.4 percent approval in the UCP leadership review.[15]

Pitt's association with the Wildrose Party in the Airdrie community resulted in the claim that she may have been responsible for transferring $16,000 from the Wildrose Party constituency association to a political action committee referred to as the Alberta Fund.[16] This issue was resolved after Pitt revealed that one of the people who brought this claim against her was her opponent's campaign manager and Elections Alberta verified that transferring funds from constituency associations to a registered third party is not against the law.[16]

Electoral history

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2023 general election

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2023 Alberta general election: Airdrie-East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative Angela Pitt 15,215 62.01 -5.31
New Democratic Dan Nelles 8,697 35.45 +15.53
Green Michael Jacobsen 623 2.54
Total 24,535 99.38
Rejected and declined 153 0.62
Turnout 24,688 61.84
Eligible voters 39,924
United Conservative hold Swing -10.42
Source(s)

2019 general election

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2019 Alberta general election: Airdrie-East
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
United Conservative Angela Pitt 16,764 67.32 -0.37 $62,714
New Democratic Roxie Baez Zamora 4,960 19.92 -9.63 $13,180
Alberta Party Alex Luterbach 2,371 9.52 $4,646
Freedom Conservative Rick Northey 482 1.94 $1,511
Alberta Independence Jeff Olson 213 0.86 $1,655
Independent Richard Absalom D. Herdman 112 0.45 $500
Total 24,902
Rejected, spoiled and declined 168 33 6
Eligible electors / turnout 35,729 70.18
United Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[18][19][20]
Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.

2015 general election

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2015 Alberta general election: Airdrie
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Angela Pitt 7,499 35.08% -23.08%
New Democratic Chris Noble 6,388 29.88% 25.72%
Progressive Conservative Peter Brown 6,181 28.91% -3.77%
Alberta Party Jeremy Klug 912 4.27%
Independent Jeff Willerton 399 1.87% 0.06%
Total 21,379
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 103
Eligible electors / turnout 40,045 53.64% 0.76%
Wildrose hold Swing -10.14%
Source(s)
Source: "Airdrie Official Results 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
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Political offices
Preceded by MLA for Airdrie
2015-present
Succeeded by
Incumbent

References

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  1. ^ a b "Riding: Airdrie".
  2. ^ "Wildrose, Progressive Conservative parties to merge with 95% approval". Edmonton Journal. 2017-07-23. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  3. ^ "Angela Pitt |". UCP Caucus. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  4. ^ "Incumbent MLA easily fends off former sportscaster Roger Millions for Airdrie-East UCP nomination". Calgary Herald. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  5. ^ "Election Results". CBC News.
  6. ^ "Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt now endorsing Danielle Smith for UCP leadership". AirdrieToday.com. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  7. ^ "Member Information". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  8. ^ "Alberta legislature's new Speaker named after United Conservative agenda laid out". thestar.com.
  9. ^ "Legislative Assembly of Alberta". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  10. ^ March 25, Kelsey Yates More from Kelsey Yates Published on; March 25, 2019 | Last Updated; Edt, 2019 11:37 Am (2019-03-25). "Angela Pitt runs for re-election". Airdrie Echo. Retrieved 2019-12-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Pitt running for re-election in 2023, talks about new NDP candidate". DiscoverAirdrie. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  12. ^ Ross, Tom (April 28, 2021). "Alberta MLA maintains opposition to some COVID-19 health measures". CityNews. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  13. ^ "2 of Premier Kenney's caucus members join coalition fighting COVID-19 restrictions". CTV News. The Canadian Press. February 10, 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  14. ^ White, Ryan (September 28, 2021). "UCP MLA Angela Pitt says she no longer has confidence in Premier Kenney". CTV News. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Jason Kenney steps down after 51.4 per cent approval in leadership review". Edmonton. 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  16. ^ a b Graney, Emma (June 7, 2018). "Airdrie-area UCP nomination gets ugly over $16K PAC payment". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  17. ^ "48 - Airdrie-East". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  18. ^ "48 - Airdrie-East, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  19. ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 192–196. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  20. ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.